Saturday, August 27, 2016

attribution/derivatives/inspiration

Monica at Lakeview Stitching has a very good post on the current Modern Quilt Guild's statement:
http://www.lakeviewstitching.com/2016/08/sunny-and-derivative.html

Here is the Modern Quilt Guild's post:
https://themodernquiltguild.wordpress.com/2016/07/30/all-about-derivatives/

The current turmoil of attribution/derivatives/inspiration brought back an issue I had several years ago.
I saw a simple block used on a blog, scaled it down and re-worked a bit and posted my resulting quilt to my blog. My version was (yes) much better. It was noticed by a publisher who asked if they could include it in their magazine. I said I would ask the blogger for permission and she said no.
A few months later I found a doll quilt I had made about a decade previously that used the same block. Made long before the blogger posted her block.
A bit of there is nothing new under the sun.
The whole experience left me sad.

I post my designs with the encouragement for readers to use at their pleasure.
My designs are based on what I think is my own take on traditional patterns and methods, but who knows.
It is tricky to stay in the law and yet let our individual work and the state of quilting progress. Especially when the law is so vague.
I hope that others find inspiration here on my blog and run with it.